Quinntana: The Story of Us
by zashikabuta06
Summary: From Quinn's perspective. "Everyday, we fill a blank page in the story of us. It is a book that has many pages written and many more left to fill." Companion piece to "The One That Got Away."Quinntana angst and romance, with Tina, Rachel, and Brittany. AU. Rated T, progressing to M.


**Quinntana: The Story of Us**

_From Quinn's point of view. "Everyday, we fill a blank page in the story of us. It is a book that has many pages written and many more left to fill."_

_"Lucy, keep still,"_ my mom said, as she brushed my hair.

I was so excited that I couldn't keep still, even if I tried. It was the first day of school and I loved school. I was in the 3rd grade and my teacher would be Miss Bliss. My sister, Janie, liked her a lot. She was in 6th grade. I followed her wherever she went. I love my big sister.

_"Mom, I need my sweater!"Janie yells out from her bedroom._

_"Judy, where is my breakfast?" my father asks rather sternly._

My mom stops brushing my hair. She leaves the bathroom and I watch her go to the laundry room and get Janie's sweater. Then, she goes downstairs to the kitchen. I can hear my father yelling at her.

'_Damn it, Judy. You know I need to have my breakfast at 7 o'clock. Tell me what time it right now."_

"_It is 7:03."_

"_It's late. What the fuck where you doing?"_

_"Russell, it's the first day of school. I was doing Lucy's hair."_

_"She is 8 years old, Judy. She can do her own hair. Janie could do it all by herself by that age."_

_"Yes, Russell, but our girls are two different people."_

I knew that my dad loved Janie more. I tried to please him. I got straight A's. I even played softball because I knew he loved baseball. I did my chores. I was polite. I was a good girl. But he always compared to me to his Janie. I could never win. Whatever I do, I wasn't good enough for my father's conceited expectations.

I go to Janie's room and ask her if she would braid my hair. She rolls her eyes before sitting me down in front of her vanity. I had long, golden hair like hers. Janie had already done her hair in a French braid. She was so pretty. This year, she would be in a different building from me. I was nervous that she would be far away.

_"Lucy, I will be in the building across from yours. I will be right there if you need me, okay?" she says, as she kisses the top of my head._

_"Janie, Lucy, get down here now so your mother can drive you to school," my dad yelled_.

He was always yelling. He was only happy after he got home from work. My mom would have his "scotch neat" ready for him. After he had 2 of those, he would smile at her. Sometimes, he would even smile at me. My dad was angry a lot. I don't know why. I was happy all the time. To me, it took up a lot of energy to be mad. Being happy was easy. My mom was happy most of the time, so was my sister. But they weren't as happy as I was.

We run down the stairs, with our backpacks. My mom hands me my My Little Pony lunch box and hands Janie a sack lunch. My father kisses Janie on the cheek. I wish he would do that to me. All he did was pat me on the head. He never hugged me. He never told me he loved me. I told him I loved him all the time.

During the ride to school, I could barely contain my excitement.

_"Calm down, Lucy. You will see Brittany and Tina soon. You must be the only child who loves the first day of school," my mom says with a laugh. _

Brittany and Tina were my best friends. They were the first friends I ever made. We were always together. Brittany was taller than me and had blue eyes and blonde hair. Tina was shorter than me. She had long black hair that she always wore in pigtails. We did everything together: ballet classes, Girl Scouts, softball. Janie called us The Three Musketeers. I didn't know what that meant. I just knew that I had the bestest friends in the world. I loved school. I was always the smartest one in my class. I just loved to read and learn. Reading helped me escape from home and my dad. We pull up to the school and Janie pulls down the visor to put on lip gloss. She always wore pink, shimmery lip gloss. It made her lips sparkly.

_"Come on, squirt. I'll walk you to class," she tells me._

_My mom turns around to face me. "Honey, there is a surprise for you in you backpack. Meet your sister right here at 2:30 pm okay? Have a great first day, Lucy!"_

I open the door and step out onto the concrete sidewalk. Janie takes my hand and closes the car door. I turn around and wave to my mom before she drives away. I follow my sister where she leads me. Soon, I am in my classroom.

_"Well, hi, Janie! How are you? And who is this?' Miss Bliss asks._

_"I am good, Miss Bliss. This is my little sister, Lucy."_

I extend my hand out to her. My dad said that whenever you meet someone new, you shake their hand. She shakes my hand. Her hand was soft.

_"Nice to meet you, Lucy. Why don't you sit next to Tina and Brittany?_"

My sister gives me hug before leaving the classroom.

I see all the kids in the class. It is the same group as last year. I remember that my mom said she had a surprise for me. I open my knapsack and see a new My Little Pony. It was light purple with a purple mane. I was so excited. I pull her out to show Tina and Brittany. We start to play when I notice someone in front of the classroom.

She is a new girl, standing with her mom. She looks so pretty. I have never seen anyone like her before. She has skin like the carmel from a Milky Way bar. She has 2 braids, one on each side, tied with a red ribbon, to match our uniforms. She looks a little scared. She shouldn't be scared. Miss Bliss wasn't scary. She was really nice, Janie said so. I look at her and smile. I watch her as her eyes move all over the classroom. She finally sees me smiling at her and gives me a small smile back. I wave "Hi!" to her when her mom pushes her toward Miss Bliss. She sticks her hand out to shake her hand. In her other hand is a G.I. Joe lunchbox, like the boys have. I wonder why she has a boy lunchbox.

The bell rings and we all stop what we are doing.

_"Okay, everyone, let's take our seats. This is Santana Lopez. Her family just moved here from France. Can anyone tell me where France is?" Miss Bliss asks._

_"It is in Europe. It kinda looks like a weird square." I answered._

There it was again, her small, slight smile.

_"That is correct, Lucy. Let's all welcome Santana to Lima and St. John's!"_

_The class exclaims: "Welcome Santana!" clapping their hands._

She shuffles her feet, slightly bowing her head, with a blush creeping up the apple of her cheeks.

_"Why don't you take that empty seat next to Lucy and Brittany, Santana? And Lucy, why don't you show her where to put her things," Miss Bliss asks_.

I got up and walked up next to her, smiling brightly. Santana gives me another smile, this one bigger than the last, her dark brown eyes meeting my hazel. She is beautiful. I lead her to the back of the classroom, where we hung our coats and knapsacks.

_"Hi! I'm Lucy." I say, sticking out my hand. "Nice to meet you, Santana!"_

She grips my hand, giving me a strong squeeze. Making her smile was becoming my new favorite thing. I watched, as she hung up her backpack on the empty hook next to mine. I pointed to the cubby hole and she put her lunchbox inside. She was quiet. She didn't say anything to me yet. Maybe she was still scared. So, I reached down and laced our fingers together. Holding someone hand always made me feel less scared. Santana looked down at our hands, then looked at me. She gave me a big smile. I walked us to our desks.

At 10:00, we had snack time. My mom knows that I like grapes, the green ones. She also packed me an apple juice box. Britt always had Cheetos and chocolate milk. Tina usually had apple slices with orange juice. I look at Santana and she didn't have a snack. She looked hungry.

_"Santana, would you look some of my grapes?"_

_Brittany said, with a mouthful, "You can have some Cheetos if you want!" _

_"Yeah, here are some apples," Tina offered._

I saw her smile again, as she took a little bit from each of us.

At 11:45, we got our lunch boxes and went to the cafeteria. I took my My Little Pony box, Tina took her Care Bear box, Brittany took her Transformer box, and she took her G.I. Joe box. We sat together at a table and waited for the lunch mothers to pass out cartons of milk. I always had a turkey and cheese sandwich. Britt would have a crunchy peanut butter and banana sandwich. Tina would eat a ham and cheese sandwich. We would trade sandwiches; that was why we all had different ones. I saw her open her box and pull out a different looking sandwich.

_"What kind of sandwich is that, Santana?" I ask her._

_She finally spoke, "It's a Cuban. It has lots of stuff in it, like pickles."_

_"I like do you have a G.I. Joe lunchbox?"_

Santana smiles brightly, telling me, _"It's because my mom and dad are both in the Army. We moved here so we could be closer to my abuela, uh, my grandmother." _

She offered half of her sandwich to me. I gave her the other half of mine.

It was the best sandwich I ever tasted. She liked mine too. The big kids came to eat at 12:10, after we were done eating. I saw my sister coming towards me.

_"Hey squirt! Hi Britt! Hi Tina!" she said, looking at Santana._

_"Janie, this is Santana. She is new. She is from France," I tell her._

_"Bonjour, Santana," my sister says, extending her hand._

_Santana shakes it saying, "Bonjour, Janie."_

After lunch, we go to the playground. We usually jump rope. Tina gets one from the lunch mothers and we all take turns jumping. My sister knows how to jump on two ropes at the same time. She calls it Double Dutch. She promised to teach me when I get bigger. Santana still is quiet but I can tell she is having fun. She is smiling more.

Before I know it, school is over. I walk over to where I am meeting my sister. In the afternoons, we walk home because my mom is at work. I hold Santana's hand, as we walk to the statue of St. John the Evangelist. This is where I am supposed to meet Janie. I can tell that Santana is looking for her mom. Instead, an older woman comes up to her.

_"Nieta, como fue su primera dia de classes? _(Granddaughter, how was your first day of school?" she asks Santana.

I see her wrap her arms around the lady.

_"Hi, abuela! Era bueno! Hice un nuevo amigo! Es madre en el hospital?" _

(Hi, grandma. It was good! I made a new friend. Is mom at the hospital?)

_"Yes, Santana, that is why I am here to pick you up," she replies._

_"Grandma, this is my new friend, Quinn."_

I let go of Santana's hand to offer my hand to her, but she gives me a big hug instead. It was nice being hugged. I didn't get a lot of those. I was happy that Santana called me her friend. She was my new friend, too. Janie walks up next to me.

_"Ready to go, Quinnie?"_

Santana looks at me confused.

_"I thought your name was Lucy."_

_"Well, it is. Quinn is my middle name. And only Janie calls me Quinnie." _

_"You must be Lucy's sister. Hello, I am Maria, Santana's grandmother."_

"_It is nice to meet you! Come on, Luce, we have to get going. You have ballet class at 4 o' clock."_

My eyes light up. I love ballet class. I was in Intermediate Ballet. Britt was in the Advanced class. Tina had piano lessons after school. I wonder what Santana had after school. I was just about to ask her when Janie takes my hand and starts walking.

_"Goodbye, Santana! See you tomorrow!"_

_"Bye, Quinn! Have fun at ballet!"_

I can hear her telling her grandma that she wants to go to ballet class, too.

After we get home, I have a snack and get ready for class. My mom picks me up and takes me to the studio. I tell her all about school and Santana. Sometimes, my mom doesn't seem like she is listening to me. I think it is because my dad gives her a lot to think about. He yells at her a lot. He sometimes he yells at me but he never yells at Janie. He doesn't really talk to me, just when he wants me to bring him the newspaper or his smelly scotch.

She takes me inside the studio and talks with Britt's mom, who is our teacher.

To my surprise, I see Santana here. I bounce over to her.

_"Hi! Are you going to be taking ballet classes?"_

_"My abuela is talking to Mrs. Pierce. I was taking ballet lessons in France. I was going to continue here but we didn't know where to go."_

I sit down and get my ballet shoes out of my bag. Santana does the same.

_"Where is Brittany? Doesn't she take class too?"_

_"She does, but she is advanced. Britt is in the back room doing homework. She is in the next class with Janie."_

_"Santana, Mrs. Pierce would like to see you dance so she knows which class to put you in. I told her you could probably be in the advanced class," her grandmother says._

Santana looks scared all of a sudden.

_"Come on, nieta. Nothing fancy."_

She looks at me and looks up at Mrs. Pierce. She isn't scary at all. Mrs. Pierce is my favorite teacher.

_"Here, Santana. Lucy can dance with you, okay? How does that sound?"_

We both get up from the floor. I smile at her and we begin to dance. Santana is really good. She can dance better than me.

_"Well, Maria, you are right. Santana can be in the Advanced class if she wants."_

_"Which class do you want to be in, nieta? This one or the advanced?"_

_"If Lucy is in this one, then I want to be here."_

_"It is settled then. Okay, I will be back to get you. Have a good class!"_

I am so happy that Santana is staying in the class with me. My new friend is here with me, even though she could be in Brittany's class if she wanted. I look over and see her smiling at me. I really like Santana's smile. When she smiles, I smile.

At the end of class, I see Janie coming in with my mom. She meets Santana's grandma and they talk for a bit. Santana taps me on the shoulder.

_"I am going home now. I'll see you tomorrow?"_

_"Yes. Can you bring that Cuban sandwich again?"_

_"Only if you bring your turkey and cheese."_

I don't even think as I hug her. I love giving hugs. She hugs me back.

_"Bye, Lucy!"_

"_Bye, Santana!"_


End file.
